Every chat app’s file size limit, checked
Upload limits change quietly and often — Discord’s alone has been 8, 25, 10 and now 20 MB — and most pages quoting them are out of date. Every number below was checked on 1 September 2026, against each service’s own documentation.
| App | Free limit | Paid limit |
|---|---|---|
| Discord | 20 MB | 50 MB Nitro Basic · 500 MB Nitro |
| 2 GB | — | |
| Telegram | 2 GB | 4 GB Premium |
| Slack | 1 GB | 1 GB (same on every plan) |
Discord: 20MB, the strictest of the four
Free accounts get 20 MB per file, after Discord doubled the limit from 10 MB in August 2026. Nitro Basic lifts it to 50 MB and full Nitro to 500 MB. Twenty megabytes is seconds of raw screen recording, which makes Discord the app people actually hit a wall on — our Discord guide covers the four ways past it in detail.
WhatsApp: 2GB, if you send it the right way
WhatsApp accepts files up to 2 GB — but only when sent as a document (the attach button, then Document). A video sent the normal way, through the gallery, is recompressed hard and comes out noticeably worse. If quality matters, always pick Document; the file arrives byte-for-byte as you sent it.
Telegram: 2GB free, 4GB with Premium
Free accounts can send files up to 2 GB; Premium raises it to 4 GB. The receiving side needs nothing — anyone can download a file a Premium user sent. Like WhatsApp, sending a video as a file rather than as media is what preserves the original quality.
Slack: 1GB on every plan
Slack’s cap is 1 GB per file, and paying does not move it — Free, Pro and Enterprise all share the same per-file limit. For a work clip that is nearly always enough; what runs out first on a free workspace is the workspace’s storage, not the single file.
When your file is over the limit
Three moves, in the order worth trying. Cut the footage down to the part that matters with the video trimmer — shorter is smaller and costs no quality. Then compress to the exact target with the video compressor: it has a preset for Discord’s 20 MB and takes a typed number for anything else, and it runs in your browser without uploading your video anywhere. And if the file is gigabytes — past even WhatsApp’s limit — see compressing a video over 1GB.
Common questions
Why are the limits so different between apps?
Storage economics. Every upload sits on the operator’s servers, and each company draws the cost line somewhere else: Discord monetises lifting it, Telegram uses it as a Premium perk, WhatsApp eats the cost. The number is a business decision, which is exactly why it keeps changing.
What about email?
Stricter than any of these: Gmail and Outlook.com stop at 25 MB. Emailing a video bigger than that is its own guide.
One of these numbers looks outdated. Are you sure?
The date at the top is when each was last verified. If a service has moved its limit since, the date tells you exactly how much to trust the figure — and we re-check and update this page when they move.
More guides
- How to send a video over Discord’s 20MB limit
What the upload limit actually is, and the four ways around it.
- Do online video compressors upload your file?
Some send your video to a server, some never do. How to check any site yourself.
- Compress a video over 1GB without uploading it
Why free converters cap you at 1GB, and how to shrink a bigger file anyway.
- How to email a video bigger than 25MB
Gmail and Outlook stop at 25MB. Three ways to send the video anyway.